Jose Mourinho has confirmed Manchester United failed with a bid to bring Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata to Old Trafford.

United had been strongly linked with a move for the Spain international before the Premier League club concluded a £75million deal to sign Romelu Lukaku from Everton.

Mourinho indicated Morata had been one of United’s top targets as the club prepares to return to the Champions League, but no agreement could be reached with Madrid.

“I don’t like to speak about players who aren’t ours, because Morata is not our player. I am nobody to speak about players from Real Madrid,” Mourinho told reporters.

While United missed out on Morata, the club snapped up Lukaku and made the striker the second most expensive transfer in British football history, behind only Paul Pogba.

Mourinho suggested Lukaku’s Premier League experience and his personal relationship with the player from their time together at Chelsea were the primary reasons United sought to buy the Belgium international, the club also having been strongly linked with a deal for Antoine Griezmann before Atletico Madrid’s transfer ban nixed the Frenchman’s exit.